Zoom’s new AI tool will tell you if you’re bad at meetings

Meetings, even the best ones, are never a lot of fun—and they’re a lot worse when the person running them rambles, is ill-prepared or (God forbid) spits out a litany of jargon that makes everyone go glassy-eyed.

And as terrible as a bad in-person meeting can be, it doesn’t hold a candle to a mediocre or bad one that’s held on Zoom. Now, however, the ubiquitous telecommunications software is offering an artificial intelligence-driven service to users to, basically, let them know if they stink at running meetings.

Technically, the Zoom AI Companion is there to help “improve collaboration and productivity,” but . . . tomayto, tomahto.

The generative AI companion will not carry any additional cost for current paid users, the company says. While the trial program that started in June offered meeting summaries and draft messages based on the context of a Team Chat thread, the full launch will do a lot more, including (starting next year) a critique of how participants did in the meeting.

“Planned for spring 2024, users will also have the ability to receive real-time feedback on their presence in meetings, as well as coaching on their conversational and presentation skills,” the company said.

Beyond telling you to be more concise or pay closer attention or whatever other skill you might need to polish for optimal meeting attendance, Zoom Meetings will condense the meeting for late attendees, allowing them to catch up by asking the AI companion questions in a separate window, so as to not interrupt the flow of the meeting by having to ask the presenter what they missed.

And for those who missed the meeting altogether and want to watch it later, Zoom Meetings offers highlights and review summaries, as well as next steps and “smart chapters.” A post-meeting summary can be generated and sent to people to summarize key points.

Other ways the generative AI will impact daily tasks on the tool include:

Zoom Whiteboard, which will let users “harness their whiteboard content to generate images and populate whiteboard templates” (coming spring 2024)
Zoom Mail will let users draft email suggestions
Zoom Phone will summarize SMS threads and calls

Starting in spring 2024, users will be able to interact with the AI Companion conversationally to do everything from find the status of key projects as they prepare for meetings to get real-time and post-meeting support.

Adding an AI offering could also help Zoom shares regain some of their strength. While the stock has gained nearly 13% year to date, at its recent price of $75 a share, it’s still far below its pandemic highs, which reached $559 per share. Online revenue at the company fell 4.3% year over year in the most recent earnings. Investor interest in AI is so strong these days that blending the technology with its video conferencing could give it a boost.

Of course, a lot will depend on the quality of the generative AI and whether it falls prey to the hallucinations that sometimes accompany the tech. If Zoom’s AI Manager actually does save time and proves useful, that’s one thing, but if it incorrectly summarizes meetings or includes incorrect details, that could hurt the company.